Stop And Smell The Roses...

FOR FREE (just don't cut them and take them home)!!!  Celebrate National Public Gardens Day on May 6th. I know, you didn't even know that this day existed, but that's what I'm here for..."You and me baby, we're stuck like glue..." Sorry, had a Sugarland moment.  Back to National Public Gardens Day...Sign up to get your FREE admission (for two) to a participating garden. Click here to get your tickets:  Better Homes and Gardens  You're Welcome!

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too!

My daughter recently turned 7 (which I am still trying to digest...someone cut me a piece of cake!). I don't like to spend a lot of money on birthday parties.  Sure you could go crazy and spend lots of money on your kids birthday party and try to get yourself on TLC's Outrageous Kid Parties show, but I am telling you right now that I would definitely be talking about you. I would also be wondering who you were trying to impress because it wouldn't be the kids (they are happy with balloons, cake and a game...think about it...did you hate your birthday parties growing up?).  So, unless you are Tori Spelling and you are rich and the guru of creativity you need to keep reading.

Let's talk theme. Birthdays usually have a theme, so pick one and roll with it, but don't roll out the dough.  This year my daughter had a breakfast birthday...like "Breakfast at Tiffany's!"! Creative, check. Cute, check. Cheap, check.

First stop, the thrift store. Here we picked up four fancy plates and two fancy bowls for plating the breakfast food for $1.50. We also picked up a server for the maple syrup for $.99 and a tiered server for $1.99 to serve the fresh fruit.

Second stop, Wal-Mart. This is where we picked up the blue tablecloth for $1.00, black plates for $1.50 (we purchased two), black cups for $1.00, white napkins for $1.50 and blue sparkle alphabet stickers for $2.99. We also picked up cake mix and icing for cupcakes ($6.00).

This is where we used our sparkle stickers!

Third stop, the party store. Here we only picked up a few items. We headed over to the clearance rack and picked up little, white favor boxes which were 12 for $1.00.  We also found decorative diamond rings that we used as cupcake toppers for $2.50. Our final item was friendship braid kits. You got three for .49 (we bought 9).

Homemade cupcake, decorative diamond ring and thrift store fancy plate

Final stop....FOOD!  On the menu was bacon, sausage, waffles, pancakes, strawberries, grapes and sparkling grape juice. We fed nine girls for $35.67.

Don't worry, I didn't forget the favors! I splurged a little here, I'm not gonna lie, but the cuteness factor got to me!  Each girl took home one flower clip for their hair. The total cost was $25.50 ($8.50 for three and I needed nine).  I justified this in my head by saying that it was a favor they could keep and use, not just another "throw away" item. I displayed them on the boxes that I filled with jelly beans (for $1.00 a bag).



This fits the requirements of cute and creative!

Grand total: $92.05 (Under $100) for a lifetime of Kodak moments and memories.



This is just one example. Remember the three "C's": Cheap, Creative and Cute!



Off To Get Some Ink!

Thought I was getting a new tattoo didn't you? Nope, not me (my husband says I am a wimp and wouldn't be able to handle it....which makes me want to prove him wrong!). 

I am actually talking about getting your ink cartridges refilled for half the cost of buying new ones. Did you know that places like Walgreens and Ace Hardware offer both black and color ink cartridge refills? 

In fact, Walgreens has a promotion right now (which they often do, just look in Sundays ads for their latest deals) for $12.99 for both black and/or color ink cartridge refills.  Plus, they are ready in minutes (the photo department and the pharmacy could have a race to see who fills the order first!). Walgreens will also package the refilled ink cartridge in a nice box for you to take home with a coupon on the side for 50% off your next printer cartridge refill! So guess what?! Your next printer cartridge refill is only going to be a third of the cost of a new one!  And with Earth Day approaching you can feel good about not throwing another printer ink cartridge into the landfill (and you can say you did your "part" and not be lying).

If you are concerned about quality. I understand. I was too. I can honestly say that the quality has been the same if I were to buy a new one or get my old one refilled.  At such a discount, you can afford to try it out for yourself!

Now Go Get Inked!

Spring "Break" Under $100

Ok, so my daughter took Spring Break literally and on day one (it looked fine and she didn't complain about it until day two) broke her pinky finger on the growth plate (the new puppy jumped up on the back step going into the house and knocked her over and she landed on her hand).  Welcome to the family, Josie!

We were off on the wrong foot...or finger, BUT, the week ended up going better and we ended up having a full week of fun despite the hand being in a half cast. Spring Break ended up costing us $96.99 and here is what we did:

$40.00 - Day One: Family Fun Night at a local Indoor Golf facility which included 1/2 an hour in the bounce room, one twelve inch pizza, four pops and a round of miniature golf for the entire family.

FREE - Day Two: First we headed to my aunts house in the "country" (two acres here in Illinois is considered country...trust me on this one!) to enjoy her company and have lunch then we spent two hours in Urgent Care getting a half cast for my daughter who had a broken pinky finger. This was free because I had credit at the doctors office from when my son broke his hand last year at recess. BONUS! (insert sarcasm)

$4.43 - Day Three:  Lunch at Lone Star with Grandpa (Kids Eat Free on Tuesdays and Grandpa bought us lunch). We then had dessert at Culvers and each kid had a FREE coin for a cone or cup of yummy! My cup of yummy cost me $2.43. Then we had some retail therapy. My daughter had her birthday money, my son had money saved up and I had gift cards leftover from my birthday. Four DSi games, one Wii game, one doll styling chair, one Zhu Zhu Pet, one Zhu Zhu Pet outfit, one Uno game, two new pairs of sunglasses, one pair of capris, two shirts, one packet of Squinkies, one wave hula hoop, one monster truck and one soccer ball later we headed home without paying a cent for any of it! We did pay for Silly Bands that were on sale at Walgreens for $.25 a packet for a total of $2.00 (yes, my kids STILL like Silly Bands).

$12.00 - Day Four: Bowling! The kids and I went bowling and it was dollar game night. The three of  us bowled two games each, paid for shoes (@$2.00 a pair) and had two hours of FUN despite feeling my age and pulling a muscle in my leg (how sad is THAT!), but I won a game...for the record!

$13.00 - Day Five: Lions and Tigers and Bears...OH MY! We headed to zoo with our zoo membership in hand. This is something we get as a present every year and it is much appreciated! We also enjoyed the dolphin show FREE as part of our membership. The kids each rode the carousel and with our membership the cost was $1.50 each. We enjoyed our packed lunch sitting right next to the wolves. They each brought home two Mold-O-Ramas (my kids love these...I haven't figured out why, but I am not going to argue the cheap souvenirs) for a total cost of $8.00. Oh wait, we can't forget that my daughter lost her tooth during the dolphin show. $2.00 was added to today's total for Tooth Fairy duties.

$27.56 - Day Six: Lunch and a Movie! We headed to Pizza Hut to use the kids BOOK IT Certificates that they earned from school for reading! That was worth two free buffets (I didn't say we ate good this week!). So, I just had to pay for one adult buffet. We then headed off to the movie theater to see, "HOP."  Cost was $7.00 per person, but of course, I had $7.00 left on my gift card (that I received for my birthday), so I only ended up paying $14.00. We packed snacks since we had just come from lunch. Not too bad.  My son also had his cousin over for the night which is always FREE fun!

FREE - Day Seven: Two sleep-overs and two FREE Blizzards from Dairy Queen. How did we get FREE Blizzards from Dairy Queen you ask? Well, the kiddos got them in their bags from the library when they completed the Winter Reading Program. WE LOVE OUR LIBRARY!

Now, in all fairness I didn't add the price of gas into this fun-filled week for under $100 (because that is just depressing), but even with adding that in we are still at $150 for the week. My kids told me everyday how much fun they were having and they thanked me regularly for everything. They just wanted my time and attention and that doesn't cost anything....Remember, it's all about Spending Moments, Not Money.